WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/909 
25 February 2009 
 (09-0997) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
INFORMATION ON ACTIVITIES OF THE  
CODEX ALIMENTARIUS COMMISSION 
 
Submission by the Codex Alimentarius Commission
 
Meeting of 25-26 February 2009  
 
  The following communication, dated 25 February 2009, is being circulated at the request of 
the Codex Alimentarius Commission
. 
 
_______________ 
 
 
CODEX SESSIONS SINCE THE LAST ME ETING OF THE SPS COMMITTEE (8-9 
OCTOBER 2008)  
- The 2
nd Session of the Ad hoc  Codex Intergovernmental Task Force on Antimicrobial 
Resistance (Seoul, Republic of Korea, 20-24 October  2008)  
- The 30th Session of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and F oods for Special Dietary 
Uses (Cape Town, South Africa, 3-7 November 2008) 
- The 17th Session of the  Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and 
Certification Systems (Cebu, Philippines, 24-28 November 2008)  
- The 40th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (Guatemala City, 
Guatemala, 1-5 December  2008) 
In particular, the SPS Committee may wish to  draw its attention to the following: 
 
1. The Second Session of the Ad Hoc  Intergovernmental Task Force on Antimicrobial 
Resistance  agreed to consolidate the three working doc uments on Risk Assessment Guidance, Risk 
Profiles and Risk Management Guidance to Contain Foodborne Antimicrobial Resistant Microorganisms into a single document entitled “Guidelines for Risk Analysis of Foodborne Antimicrobial Resistance” and to consider the cons olidated document at the Third Session of the Task 
Force in October 2009. 
2. The Seventeenth Session of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection 
and Certification Systems agreed to redraft the Principles and Guidelines for the Conduct of Foreign 
On-site Audits and Inspection.  It also agreed  to forward the renamed Generic Model Official 
Certificate to the 32
nd Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission for final adoption and to 
recommend to the Commission to request the Code x Committees on Fish and Fishery Products and on 
Milk and Milk Products to consider revising the Model Certificate for Fish and Fishery Products  
(CAC/GL 48-2004) and Model Export Certificate fo r Milk and Milk Products  (CAC/GL 67-2008) to 
ensure consistency with the Generic Mode l Official Certificate, when adopted. G/SPS/GEN/909 
Page 2  
 
  3. The Fortieth Session of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene  agreed to forward to the 
32
nd Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission for final adoption the Microbiological Criteria 
for Powdered Follow-up Formula and Formulas for Special Medical Purposes for Young Children and 
the Proposed Draft Microbiological Criteria for Listeria monocytogenes in Ready-to-Eat Foods.  It 
also agreed to continue working on the Proposed Draft Guidelines for the Control of Campylobacter 
and Salmonella  spp.  in Chicken Meat and in relation to this work requested the FAO/WHO to 
provide scientific advice on the development of th e web-based risk management decision support tool 
and on the Proposed Draft Annex on Leafy Green Ve getables Including Leafy Herbs to the Code of 
Hygienic Practice for Fresh Fruits.  It further agreed  to discuss new work on the elaboration of a Code 
of Hygienic Practice for Viruses in Food. 
FORTHCOMING CODEX MEETINGS 
 
- The 30th Session of the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling 
(Budapest, Hungary, 9-13 March 2009)  
- The 41st Session of the Codex Committee on Food Additives (Beijing, China, 16-20 
March 2009)  
- The 3rd Session of the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Foods (The Hague,  
Netherlands, 23-27 March 2009)  
- The 26th Session of the Codex Committee on General Principles (Paris, France, 30 
March-3 April 2009)  
- The 41st Session of the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (Beijing, China, 20-25 
April 2009)  
- The 37th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (Calgary, Canada, 4-8 
May 2009)  
- The 18th Session of the Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods 
(Natal, Brazil, 11-15 May 2009)  
4. The Forty-first Session of the Codex Committee on Food Additives will consider the 
proposed maximum levels for food additives and processi ng aids in Codex Standards, the Inventory of 
Substances used as Processing Aids (IPA), th e Proposals for Changes and/or Addition to the 
International Numbering System (INS) for Food a dditives, the Specifications for the Identity and 
Purity of Food Additives, and the Priority List of  Food Additives Proposed for Evaluation by JECFA.  
5. The Third Session of the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Foods will continue to 
consider the proposed drafts on the Code of Pract ice for the Reduction of Acrylamide in Food and on 
the Code of Practice for the Reduction of Cont amination of Food with Polycyclic Aromatic 
Hydrocarbons (PAH) from Smoking and Direct Drying Processes.  New work will start on the maximum levels for total aflatoxins in Brazil nut s and the code of practice for the prevention and 
reduction of ochratoxin-A contaminatio n in coffee, as approved by the 31
st Commission as new work, 
will be also discussed. 
6. The Twenty-fifth Session of the  Codex Committee on General Principles will consider the  
Proposed Draft Revised Code of Ethics for Interna tional Trade in Foods, and review the Principles on 
the INGO participation as well as the Risk Analys is Policies of Codex Committees.  It will also 
discuss issues related to “consensus” in Codex and the question of the participation of developing 
countries in the Codex standards-setting process.  G/SPS/GEN/909 
 Page 3 
 
 
  7. The Forty-first Session of the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues will discuss draft 
MRLs for certain compounds and commodities and con tinue to work on the revision of the Codex 
Classification of Foods and Animal Feed.  In add ition, the Committee will consider how to facilitate 
the establishment of Codex MRLs for minor uses and specialty crops and the revision of the 
Guidelines on the Estimation of Measurement Unce rtainty to provide practical guidance on the 
estimation and application of measurement un certainty in pesticide residue analysis.  
8. The Eighteenth Session of the  Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in 
Foods will consider the MRLs for 5 veterinary drugs (co listin, ractopamine, erythromycin, 
melengestrol acetate and triclabendazole) in vari ous animal species/tissue combinations.  The 
Committee will also consider the Draft Guidelin es for the Design and Implementation of National 
Regulatory Food Safety Assurance Programmes Associat ed with the Use of Veterinary Drugs in Food 
Producing Animals and the Draft Priority list of vete rinary drugs requiring eval uation of re-evaluation 
by JECFA and working document listing ve terinary drugs of potential interest. 
CODEX MEMBERSHIP 
 
9. In January 2009, two new members joined the Codex Alimentarius Commission – 
Montenegro and Comoros.  This has brought the Codex membership to 178 member countries and 
one member organization (the European Community). 
__________